Alien [2023] #5 - Marvel Comics

ALIEN No. 5, October 2023

Unrelentingly brutal in its sheer savagery, Declan Shalvey’s penmanship throughout Issue Five of “Alien” must have caused even the most hard-hearted of readers to have had nightmares for weeks, as young Zasha has “one last chance to escape the thaw!” True, the Irish illustrator arguably makes it incredibly difficult for any within the comic’s audience to actually like “the runt” due to her utter lack of gratitude towards the synthetic who single-handedly saved her life. But this book’s blood-soaked body count alone should still cause many a bibliophile to momentarily look away in horror once the Xenomorphs close in upon a hapless Wendell Theen or surviving Weyland-Yutani Corporation commandos.

Indeed, with just one notable exception, every character introduced throughout this mini-series meets an incredibly gruesome end during the protagonists’ “last-ditch effort to escape the moon.” Whether it be having their head literally sliced clean off whilst they’re waxing lyrical about how they selfishly just want to escape all the mutilated violence alone in an escape craft, or disconcertingly shot through the brain by one of the last people you’d expect to be able to fire a hand-gun under extreme stress. Perhaps this twenty-page plot’s most haunting demise though, occurs to poor Wendell, who having somehow endured walking upon a partially severed leg, succumbs to a face-hugger once he’s reached the very limit of his endurance; “This was supposed to be a simple… simple assignment.” 

Furthermore, in between all the death and destruction, the author also manages to continue making shocking revelations as to the fast-dwindling cast’s motivations. The foremost of these is possibly the realisation that Talbot Engineering Incorporated’s chief scientist had been hording mutilated alien body parts for years and then using their remains to stabilise her pregnancy. However, Daytona’s admission that he was actually a defective android who the Zahns repaired so as to conduct the “dirty work” is almost as disturbing, especially once he replaced Zasha’s biological father following the man fatally falling off the facility’s platform.

Artist Andrea Broccardo’s prodigiously-pencilled glimpse into Batya’s butcher’s shop should also be lauded, due to the splash page being slightly reminiscent of Ellen Ripley’s discovery of the U.S.M. Auriga’s clone laboratory in the 1997 movie “Alien Resurrection”. The Italian does a good job of providing all the personalities within this comic with plenty of emotion and jaw-dropping moments, even when a razor-sharp tail strikes one of them halfway through their victory speech.

The regular cover art to "ALIEN" #5 by Dike Ruan & Matthew Wilson